Geographic variation in vascular mortality in Eurasia: spatial autocorrelation analysis of mortality variables and risk factors

The geographic variation patterns of vascular mortality and their major risk factors from 68 samples in Eurasia are described in this work. The goodness-of-fit tests and analysis of variance indicate significant differences in incidence of mortality from the studied diseases, as well as in risk factors among the various geographic regions in four age groups. Correlation analysis points out the two general tendencies for the majority of studied traits: (a) significant positive association with latitude and (b) significant negative correlation with longitude. In turn, one-dimensional correlograms showed no specific geographic pattern at least up to 3000 km for all studied variables. However, at the large geographic scale a long-distance differentiation pattern was indicated for total serum cholesterol and body mass index; regional patches--for total death rate, mortality rate from cardiovascular and ischaemic heart diseases, systolic and diastolic blood pressure; and a local patches pattern was detected for mortality rate from stroke. Two-dimensional correlograms uncovered three distinct and significant patterns of variation: (a) a north-south trend for total mortality rate, for death rate from cardiovascular and ischaemic heart diseases, for diastolic and systolic blood pressure and for body mass index; (b) a northwest-southeast pattern for mortality rate from cerebrovascular disease; and (c) local patches for total serum cholesterol.